Self-proclaimed darlings of the London gay scene and denizens of the comedy underworld, queer comedy sketch troupe The Sex Shells are leaving their current home of Haggerston’s super-pub The Glory and heading to the seaside!
As part of Brighton’s Fringe Festival this month, they’ll be debuting their latest production, ‘Going Down’: a glittering, twisted, all-singing, all-prancing look at gay life and, uh, gay death in the twenty-first century.
Scream helplessly as the three whoresmen of the apocalypse – Calum Mac, Dom Top, and Le Strange – end up where the homos go to fry. GAYDES, the Homo Underworld.
Setting the Shells’ depraved thoughts to music is the lethally talented pianist Rosie Thorn (aka Rose Lewenstein. As she journeys into the pits of Hell to find her fallen friends, she encounters a host of mythological mates along the way: inhabitants of a blackly sparkling hell of their own devising.
Pop princesses, dealers, cows, televangelists, time-wasters, gym-bunnies, jizz-cummies, three-headed bitches, psychics, haters, and see-ya-laters – all burn together in this anarchic circus, set to a wickedly clever soundtrack of re-written pop, theatre and movie tunes.
Expect to hear all-new interpretations of anything, from Disney to Britney, enthusiastically sung by the Shells themselves. Plus, get ready for the group’s signature razor-sharp observations about the gay scene, drug use, dating, mating and, well, anything else that takes their fancy!
If their previous full houses at The Glory are anything to go by, this one is set to be a musical comedy juggernaut, so batten down the hatches, Brightonians and be afraid. Be very afraid. Oh, and book your tickets now, yeah?
The question is, when damnation is this much fun, would you really want to be saved?
MEET THE SHELLS
Calum Mac
Professional beauty Calum Mac started his showbiz career on the heterosexual comedy circuit, bravely sashaying through football-hooligan hang-outs in Arsenal and family pub dinners in Gospel Oak, boutique banker banquettes and south-of-the-river student bars, before finding his faggoty footing in Faggerston. A well-known stand-up comedian before he drifted into the murky world of sketch and musical comedy, this fruity Northern ingénue enjoys occasionally taking a break from comedy, writing, and film-making to be the creative behind several East London bars and performance venues. A visual artist himself, he is also the curator of a couple of too-yummy bijou galleries in Shoreditch.
Dom Top
Dom Top’s fiery lips and cherubic beard are a familiar sight on the scene. When he’s not belting out sassy paeans to the burly bodies of Barcelona in the Sex Shells, he’s hosting and DJing at bars and clubs around London, performing solo stand-up gigs, oh – and working at QX. Dom began his comedy career in 2014 with a stand-up show at Dalston venue Vogue Fabrics’ ‘Dark Fabrics’ showcase. He then went on to perform at numerous LGBT-alternative events such as “Mariah & Friendz” at Resistance Gallery, “Not Safe for Work” at The Glory, as well as entertaining crowds at the legendary Royal Vauxhall Tavern, the much-missed Madame JoJo’s and East End institution the Joiner’s Arms. You can also spot him coyly twinkling in advertising campaigns for London School of Barbering and television spots for Virgin Media.
Le Strange
Le Strange has been buried up to his glossy eyebrows in frippery, frivolity, and featre for some years now. After a strange spell as a child opera star in India, he started writing for the stage and performing at university as part of the Oxford Revue. With three critically acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe shows under his cummerbund, he fused with artist Ian Godden to form pop-and-performance-art double-whammy BOTHER, who perform at art venues and nightclubs around London, and whose videos have been shown at film festivals across the UK including The London Short Film Festival, The London Independent Film Festival, and Branchage International Film Festival. A published poet and regular club host, when not Sex-Shelling, Le Strange is also currently co-writing, designing, and performing in Kabarett Britannia with Rosie Thorn, and teaching English Literature at a London university.
Rosie Thorn
Beneath the skimpy sequinned playsuits of pianist Rosie Thorn beats the heart of an outrageous polymath. Not content with playing, singing, and acting in the Sex Shells, she is a dynamite musical director, composer, and playwright. Trained in Performance Arts at the Central School of Speech & Drama and Musical Theatre at the BRIT School for Performing Arts, she has played, performed, and pirouetted her way through a host of venues and cabaret nights, including the Battersea Barge, the Poetry Cafe, Shunt Vaults and at the Edinburgh Fringe. She is currently co-writing, musical directing and performing in Kabarett Britannia with Le Strange in London this month. As a writer, Rose Lewenstein’s full-length plays have been produced at the Royal Court, Theatre 503, Yard Theatre, Arcola Theatre and Southwark Playhouse. She is published by Nick Hern Books.
• The Sex Shells: Going Down opens at Latest Music Bar (14-17 Manchester Street, Brighton, BN2 1TF) on Sunday 22nd May at 8:30pm, then continues nightly from 23rd-25th May at 9pm. Tickets £8/£6.50 concessions.
• Book now at www.brightonfringe.org/box-office/shows/view/going-down
